Chapter 12: Stranger things.

Humphrey's POV:

I thanked Abby and entered my homeroom, admittedly a little nervous as I walked into the room, pausing just inside the doorway to look around. A few people were still coming in but most of the seats were already filled bar one or two towards the front and a couple in the back row. As I walked through the desks, heading for the teacher's desk at the front of the room I could feel eyes following me and hear a few whispers. 'It's fine. You're new here. People are curious.' I thought to myself, keeping my eyes forwards as I walked to avoid showing my nerves. As I reached the teacher's desk she looked up at me.

"Yes?" She asked. She was a middle aged woman with dark red hair that was pulled back in a tight bun. She had a stern looking face as she peered at me with sharp eyes from behind a pair of horned glasses, 'Definitely not a teacher to mess around with.' I thought to myself as I answered.

"Hello Miss, my name's Humphrey. I'm new here." I said and was relieved to see a look of understanding come onto her face as she nodded.

"Ah Humphrey, welcome. Wait there for a minute, class will start in a second, we'll get you introduced and then we can find you a seat." She said, to which I nodded though I wasn't too happy about standing in front of the class, I could already feel people's stares from behind me. 'I feel like I'm on display or something...' I thought as I heard the second bell ring, indicating that class had officially started.

I noticed that as soon as the bell rang all the students fell silent and quickly took their seats, sitting mostly silent except for a few passed whispers, undoubtedly about me. From the way they settled so quickly I could tell I was right about this teacher not being one to mess around with as she stood up and cleared her throat.

"Good morning everyone. Before we begin today's announcements we have a new student joining us as you can see." She said, looking at me before gesturing towards the class, which I took to mean I should introduce myself as I stepped forwards a little.

"Hi. My name's Humphrey Miller, it's nice to meet you all." I said giving a little smile. Thankfully I was able to control my voice and tone despite my nerves as the class erupted into quiet chatter. What surprised me was that the teacher didn't seem to mind as she nodded.

"I want all of you to make Humphrey here feel welcome." She said to the class before turning back to me and adding, "There's a free seat down the back next to the window." I looked over and saw that there were two empty seats down the very back, the only two in the class actually. I nodded and headed over there, trying to ignore the looks from my classmates as I moved between them, sitting down in my assigned seat by the window which overlooked a large grass oval and a gymnasium.

Kate's POV:

Kate half-ran through the empty halls towards her homeroom class. She had a note to excuse her tardiness but all the same she didn't want to be any later than necessary knowing what Mrs. Stiller was like. She rounded the final corner and slowed to a walk, pausing for a second to catch her breath before opening the door and walking in. As she entered the room every pair of eyes swung her way, including Mrs. Stiller, who had been reading the daily announcements and paused, looking at Kate with her usual stern expression. 'Does she ever smile?' Kate thought to herself as she walked towards the front of the room.

"Miss Spencer, you're late." Kate almost flinched a little as Mrs. Stiller stated the obvious in a sharp tone. Kate didn't know why but she seemed more annoyed than usual at the interruption as she reached the front of the room and handed her the note she was carrying.

"I'm sorry I'm late Miss." Kate said as Mrs. Stiller took the note from her hand, quickly skimming it over before nodding.

"Hmphf, very well. You're lucky I've yet to take attendance. Go to your seat." She said shortly, placing the note on her desk before turning her attention back to the announcements as Kate headed for her seat. It was strange that attendance hadn't been taken yet since that was normally the very first thing of the day, before announcements. It was due to this being on her mind that Kate made it three quarters of the way to her seat before she realised that someone was sitting in the usually vacant seat next to hers. She looked up to see a young man sitting there, wearing fairly plain clothes as he looked up at her with a grin his face. Kate noticed that he had a vertical scar on his jaw, making her doubly sure that there was something familiar about him. A split second later it hit her and she froze, a surprised look on her face.

"Humphrey!?" She exclaimed. His grin widened as he nodded.

"Hey Kate." He said calmly as though he was commenting on the weather.

"Ah yes we have a new student Kate." Mrs. Stiller said from the front of the class. She was silent for a moment before looking up as she realised what had actually happened.

"You two know each other then?" She asked after looking between them a few times. Kate could only nod silently, still a little stunned as she walked the remaining distance and took her seat while Humphrey explained.

"Yes Kate and I met briefly a few days ago just after I got back into town."

Kate felt her ears go a little red as the class predictably burst into discussion at this "shocking news"; Humphrey was pretty hot and she knew that by lunchtime it would be rumours at ten paces. 'Is that necessarily a bad thing?' The question surprised her as it popped into her head, making her wonder as Mrs. Stiller brought the class back under control so that she could return to the announcements.

Humphrey's POV:

Once the announcements were completed and attendance was taken we had a few minutes of homeroom left in which we were allowed to talk amongst ourselves. I was a bit surprised to see Kate but in hindsight there was more than enough evidence for me to have guessed that she would attend Jasper High. 'Sitting next to someone I know in homeroom is just a bonus.' I thought to myself as I turned to Kate.

"Fancy seeing you here stranger." I joked with a grin as I looked at her. She was wearing a black shirt, blue denim jeans and short boots. The clothes really complimented her figure and I couldn't help but notice how pretty she was. She laughed a little at my joke which pulled me out of my thoughts and back to reality.

"Well stranger things have happened." She said with a smile and I was pleased that she was being friendly with me, I had worried she might have forgotten me or something as we spent the remaining few minutes chatting about what classes I had and other things about the school.